Authentic Thousand Island Dressing is a tangy, sweet, creamy concoction of fresh ingredients, including onions, sweet pepper, and even a hard-boiled egg! Takes just minutes to put together.
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What's the Story Behind This Recipe?
Every year, Mr B and I celebrate St Patrick's Day with a big, extravagant corned beef dinner. This leads to a brief post-holiday celebration we like to refer to as Reuben Week.
The Rueben sandwich, piled high with leftover corned beef, is the obvious and unofficial Irish-American post-St Patrick's Day sandwich. For many, a great Rueben sandwich requires an equally great Thousand Island dressing complete it. (We also enjoy classic Russian dressing on our Ruebens.) ☘️
Like Nashville Hot Chicken, the original Thousand Island dressing has a long and complicated backstory. The recipe, on the other hand, is short and simple. Here it is!
What Goes into this Salad Dressing
You might be surprised at the ingredients list for real Thousand Island Dressing. It isn't just another special sauce.
Authentic Thousand Island Dressing is a tangy, sweet, creamy concoction of fresh ingredients, including onions, sweet pepper, and even a hard-boiled egg!
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
★ Eggs: For more on how to hard-boil and egg, check our tips for how to hard-boil an egg.
★ Sweet relish: We use our homemade bread and butter pickles for this. Sweet relish, store-bought B&B or sweet pickles will also work.
★ Mayonnaise: Do not substitute in Miracle Whip, or other dressing-like products here. They will make the dressing far too sweet.
★ Ground cloves: (Ooops! I forgot to label the ground cloves! They are the little brown pile of dust between the egg and the pickles.) Ground cloves are one of those things where a little goes a long way. We use home-canned bread-and-butter pickles that already have cloves in them, so we generally don't add any additional.
★ Extras: Some folks like to throw a couple of olives into their Thousand Island. We are not fans of this, as it makes the dressing too salty for us.
How to Make this Recipe
Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.
If you like your dressing chunkier, put half the relish in the blender when you make the dressing, and add the other half after the mixture has been blended.
Refrigerate until ready to use.
This dressing is ready to serve immediately; however, it is better after it has a few hours in the fridge for flavors to marry and the mixture to thicken.
FAQs & Expert Tips
Adjusting for Personal Tastes: Some like their Thousand Island very sweet, while others prefer it a little more tangy. You can fine-tune the flavor to meet you needs by adjusting the sugar, salt and vinegar a bit.
Consistency: We like a dressing that actually pours, so we usually add a little water at the very end to get the desire consistency.
This dressing is ready to serve immediately; however, it is better after it has a few hours in the fridge for flavors to marry and the mixture to thicken.
This dressing will keep for up to a week in the fridge. Always refrigerate leftover within 2 hours of opening.
You can throw together a passable "special sauce" with mayo, ketchup, a splash of mustard, and little sweet pickle relish. And you can call it whatever you want - but it isn't real Thousand Island Dressing.
More Homemade Dressing & Dip Recipes
If you love this 1000 Island dressing recipe, try some of our other homemade condiments.
- Classic Russian Dressing
- Creamy Yogurt-Dill Sauce with Feta
- Fresh Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
- Carrot Ginger Dressing
- Original Taco House Fiesta Dressing
- Poppy Seed Salad Dressing
- Cool Buffalo Blue Cheese Dip
- Cilantro-Lime Dressing
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Authentic Thousand Island Dressing
Equipment
- 1 Blender
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise I use homemade
- 1 large hard-boiled egg
- 1½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1½ teaspoons vinegar
- 1 ounce Bread & Butter pickle slices or 2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish, divided
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped sweet red pepper
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
- Pinch of cloves
Optional
- dash Sriracha or Tabasco
- 1-2 teaspoons sugar
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.If you like your thousand island more chunky, leave out half of the pickle relish and add it after the rest of the mixture has been blended.
- Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Dressing is ready to serve immediately; however, it is better after it has a few hours in the fridge for flavors to marry and the mixture to thicken.
Notes
- Ground cloves are one of those things where a little goes a long way. I use home-canned bread-and-butter pickles that already have cloves in them, so I generally don't add any additional.
- Some like their Thousand Island very sweet, while others prefer it a little more tangy. You can fine-tune the flavor to meet you needs by adjusting the sugar, salt and vinegar a bit.
Nutrition
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
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Originally posted March 2016. Content, images, and recipe have been updated to improve reader experience.
Peachy @ The Peach Kitchen says
I love thousand island dressing! Your recipe for i sounds really delicious.
Heather @ US Japan Fam says
WOW! I had no idea what Thousand Island was made of. I know it's delicious, but this is cool to see, thank you! I will fess up that I won't be making it. I mean, I dont even mix ketchup and mayo anymore now that they came out with Mayochup so...
Renée ♥ says
Mayochup! That's a new one to me! ?
Pam says
Can't wait to try this. Funny about the corned beef and cabbage. We travelled to Ireland last summer and were surprised we couldn't get corn beef. 🙂
Joanie says
I'm so happy to have found this recipe. I love thousand island dressing but don't care for the store bought versions. This easy recipe is perfect - great flavors and so easy to make.
Renée ♥ says
Thanks, Joanie. It's so much better than store bought, for so many reasons. (Start with the fact that you can pronounce all the ingredients on the list!)
Christie Gagnon says
So much better than store bought!
Renée ♥ says
Absolutely!
Pamela says
I love that you made such a staple look so simple to make - thanks!
Cindy says
We are always searching for fun recipes to try. I thought this would be a great recipe to prep for our weekly salads. I love the taste!
Renée ♥ says
Thanks, Cindy!
Amber Myers says
This sounds incredible! I never tried to make salad dressing on my own. I really should one day!
Renée ♥ says
Making dressing takes only a few minutes, and WOW, does it make a difference. Fresh ingredients with names you recognize, plus it's at least 10x less expensive than buying it at the store.
Mimi says
I've never tried this dressing but it sounds delicious, definitely on my to-try list
Daniel Armstrong says
As per the television show "Mysteries at the Museum" this is the most authentic recipe, although the TV show omitted the hard-boiled egg which is chopped and run through a fine mesh sieve!
(I particularly like the addition of the sriracha!)
Sharon says
At the end of the program, when they showed the original letter, you could briefly see "hard boiled egg" on the list, but not much else....it went by so quickly. (I just finished watching that episode :o)
Jenni says
Ha! I love your lead picture. So fun. This actually looks super tasty. I love making my own dressings! Pinning for later!
Erin @ Platings and Pairings says
I had NO idea what went into 1000 Island Dressing! This sounds SO amazing - I want to eat it on everything!!!
Kelley says
I don't know that I've ever even had Thousand Island on my own accord! Do you think soy sauce would work for a vegetarian alternative to the Worcestershire?
Renée ♥ says
I buy vegetarian Worcestershire at New Seasons.
Marlynn [UrbanBlissLife] says
I used to love Thousand Island dressing as a little kid, and then I went through a phase of hating it for most of my life, and now I just don't usually use dressing at all. There is something oddly sentimental to me about Thousand Island dressing, though... and your version looks more appetizing than the bottled, for sure! 🙂 I'll have to try to make it at home with your recipe and see if it triggers back my love of it. As always, I appreciate your inclusion of the history of this dressing, too. So interesting!
Catherine @ Ten Thousand Hour Mama says
Renee, I love how your recipes often include a little history - I come away a tad bit smarter! Also, I have always been grossed out by Thousand Island dressings, but this recipe actually looks legit - no more "special sauce," haha!